BP Texas City Refinery Fire & ExplosionMarch 23, 2005pillai_sreejith@hotmail.com Source courtesy: Internet

The USA's third-largest refinery, with a processing capacity of 470,000 barrels per day of oil

Source courtesy: Internet

The explosion on Wednesday 23-03-2005, afternoon at the BP (Research) plant in Texas City, Texas, outside Houston, killed more than 14 people.

BP Texas City Fire & Explosion14 fatalities and 170 injured;Biggest BP refinery covers 1200 acres and produces11 million gallons of petrol a day;Third largest refinery in US;Fire and explosion occurred in the isomerization unit of the refinery.

The Isomerization ProcessBP Isomerization unit:Isomerization process increases the Octane rating of Gasoline by which straight chain HCs are converted to branched chain HCs;Raffinate splitter tower separates light & heavy gasoline components;Raffinate: the portion of the original liquid that remains after the other components have been dissolved by a solvent Raffanate consists of BTX, Hexane & Cycloheptane and are highly flammable

Source courtesy: CSB Video animation

What happened?Raffinate splitter tower was overfilled with liquid due to errors in instrumentation & flaws in start-up procedures;The tower was over heated, pressurized and pressure relief operated;HC flowed into the BD drum & stack;HC overflowed through top of BD stack forming a pool below; andThe vapour cloud formed resulted in a VCE.

The animated sequence of eventsCSB Animation Video6m15sYou can get this great video and animation from CSB free of charge if you write to them

Raffinate SplitterBlowdown Drum and ISOM Unit after explosionBP Texas City ExplosionBefore and AfterSource courtesy: Internet

Source courtesy: Internet

Source courtesy: Internet

The devastating power of explosions!! It can virtually level anything. Only blast walls can mitigate the effects.Source courtesy: Internet

Source courtesy: Internet

Firefighers and rescue personnel search the rubble for victims following an explosion at the BP-Amoco plant in Texas City.

BP Texas City ExplosionBP Fatal Accident InvestigationLoss of ContainmentRaffinate splitter start-up procedure and applicaton of knowledge and skillsControl of work and trailer sitingDesgn and engineering of the blowdown stackThe report identified four critical areas:

BP Texas City ExplosionBaker ReportThe report identified numerous failings in equipment, risk management, staff management, working culture at the site, maintenance & inspection & general health & safety assessments.BP management had not distinguished between occupational safety & process safetyTheir metrics, incentives, and management systems focused on measuring & managing occupational safety & confused improving trends in occupational safety statistics for a general improvement in all types of safety.An employee survey showed that managers & white collar workers had a rosier view of process safety culture than blue collar operators and maintenance techs.

BP Texas City ExplosionUS Chemical Safety Board ReportThe effectiveness of the safety management system at BP Texas refineryThe effectiveness of BP North Americas corporate safety oversight of its refining facilitiesA corporate safety culture that may have tolerated serious longstanding deviations from good safety practiceAn interim report cited serious concerns about:Cost cutting and a cheque book mentalityFailure of all levels of BP management including the boardThe final report headlines two major issues:

What went wrong?BP Management over-looked warning signs of a possible catastrophic accident;BP Management had a typical Cheque-Book mentality;Antiquated equipment design;Siting of occupied trailers near ISOM unit; andHuman errors.

Source courtesy: CSB Video animation

Source courtesy: CSB Video animation

Fines & Warnings ignored!! The Occupational Safety and Health Administration fined the refinery nearly $110,000 after two employees were burned to death by superheated water in September 2004. Another explosion forced the evacuation of the plant for several hours last March. Afterward, OSHA fined the refinery $63,000 for 14 safety violations, including problems with its emergency shutdown system and employee training.

Key Lessons LearntLearn from organization memory;If no accident has occurred till today, that does not mean that no accident is going to happen!Monitor process safety performance using appropriate indicators;Invest sufficient resources to correct problems; andMaintain an open & trusting safety culture.

Key lessons learntEnsure that non-essential personnel & work trailers are located away from hazardous process areas;Ensure equipment & procedures are maintained up to date; andCarefully manage organizational changes and budget decisions to ensure safety is not compromised.

pillai_sreejith@hotmail.com

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